New Orleans Hornets Guard Greivis Vasquez is Having an Under-the-Radar Season

By Craig Ballard

Chris Humphreys-US PRESSWIRE

What NBA point guard has the most double-doubles (22) this season? Tony Parker? Chris Paul? It would have been Rajon Rondo (injury derailed that), but it is in fact Greivis Vasquez of the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets/Pelicans have lost a lot of games since the Paul trade, and these days any attention on them is pretty much just about Anthony Davis and/or Austin Rivers (perhaps Eric Gordon too), but Greivis is having a massive season and is looking like a legit stud-in-the-making.

Rondo’s season is done so his 11.1 assists per game is the mark that has been set for best helper in the NBA this season. CP3 is no.2 at 9.5 and Vasquez is right there at 9.4 assists per contest. Only a handful of teams score less than the Hornets, and besides Vasquez they average just a dozen assists per game so the 26 year old is facilitating offense better than any player on the team. That is exciting because once the Hornets/Pelicans get more talent around him he should be able to get north of 10+ assists per game which would have him in elite status.

Vasquez has started all 59 tilts for New Orleans this season, and he is scoring a career-best 13.6 points per game. His 3-ball is improving, and he is even a legit contributor for a guard on the glass as he gets over four rebounds per game (he is actually pretty consistent with his rebounding). The Venezuelan even grabbed 11 boards a few weeks ago and earned his first career triple-double.

We are not at the point just yet to list Vasquez amongst the top point guards in the NBA, but he is putting together a season that should be noticed and appreciated, and should be taken as a sign of things to come as this guy could just be getting his career going.

Craig Ballard is a NFL/NBA/MLB writer for RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @craigballard77, and you can find all of his articles HERE